NightScepter
by Davner
Summary: Three months after Next, Xellos is working to finish off the remnants of Gaav's rebellion, but one Mazoku will do anything to avenge his master.


Disclaimer: Slayers isn't mine. It's the property of Kadokawa Shoten.  
  
This fic takes place approximately three months after the end of Slayers: Next, and before Slayers: Try.  
  
Nightscepter  
  
Chapter 1 Fry Another Day  
  
The eyries were ancient, abandoned a thousand years ago during the last Mazoku/Ryuuzoku war, yet the timber and stone endured in the high altitude like a puppy waiting for its dead master to return to it. No snow capped this ancient citadel. The caves, tunnels, towers and roosts monopolized the mountain-top like a fortress for sparrows..or dragons.  
  
He had never been to this mountaintop, not even during the war, or that is to say, during the active part of the war. While some believed that the War of the Monster's Fall ended with the division of Shabranigdo and the death of Cepheid and the Water Dragon King, some, on both sides, would agree that the war continued in the shadows for the next thousand years as each side waited for a new advantage to present itself.  
  
The eyries, once a battlefield, would now become a battlefield again, only this time it would not be dragon versus Mazoku, but Mazoku versus traitor.  
  
He had teleported in half-way up the mountain and climbed from there. Though there was no snow, the wind howled and nearly threw him off the mountainside. However, he clung to the rock and continued upward until he reached a stone outcropping shaped into a roost long ago. He pulled himself over the edge of the balcony and landed silently on the other side. Violet eyes scanned the corridor that lead from the roost to the nexus at the center of the mountaintop.  
  
Moving forward cautiously, he held his staff out. Trouble would come looking for him eventually, and if not, it was only a matter of time until he, himself, became trouble on the prowl.  
  
He pressed himself against the wall as voices met him from further down the tunnel. Content that they were not voices raised in alarm, he continued onward again.  
  
The tunnel led out into the top of the mountain. It had no peak. The top had been sheared away, and a large bowl had been carved into it, providing a shelter from the wind. Tunnels around the bowl led out to other eyries like the one he had used to enter the fortress. Emerging from one of these tunnels were two figures.  
  
He raised his staff and brought the red jewel at its tip to his eye. With a silent command, his view through the gem magnified, allowing him to see his quarry more clearly, though with a red tint. Though the red tint disguised the first figure's hair color, he didn't need to see the green mop of hair atop ValGaav's head to recognize him. The horn protruding from the man's forehead was more than enough.  
  
The second figure was female, and would almost pass for human if not for the twelve inch long fingers that ran from her hands and nearly down to the floor.  
  
//Report.// he heard in his head.  
  
//Contact with target established. Investigating,// he sent back.  
  
//Do not let him get away.//  
  
He smiled as he sent his next message. //It's not just him. Dezinamor is with him.//  
  
His smile intensified as he felt the shocked adulation from the other end of the mental connection. //General Dezinamor is to be taken alive if possible. She is too valuable an intelligence asset. But I want ValGaav dead. Clear?//  
  
//As a bell, Majesty,// he sent back. //However, if I may?//  
  
//Go ahead.//  
  
//I'd like to know what brings them out of hiding and up here first. This behavior defies their patterns thus far.//  
  
He could feel her mulling this over. //Very well.//  
  
That was all. The connection was severed. He went back to gazing through the crystal at them. He saw Dezinamor point at the sky to the south. He turned his gaze and that direction, and arched an eyebrow in surprise.  
  
The largest dragon he had ever seen was coasting towards them, flapping its immense wings to slow its descent. Three horns grew from the top of its gold-white head, marking it as one of the reclusive Deimos Dragons from the southern Kataart mountain range.  
  
The dragon landed on the edge of the bowl, facing the two rogue Mazoku. Deimos Dragons were considered very dangerous by the Mazoku. They held the most power out of all dragons on earth, but were, thankfully, reclusive and preferred an isolationist stance. He hadn't fought a Deimos Dragon since the war, and he wasn't looking forward to fighting one again.  
  
But what was a Deimos Dragon doing meeting two Mazoku in an abandoned eyrie?  
  
He watched as the serpent shrunk and took a human form cloaked in grey. Its face was hidden by its robe. It held a box in its hands.  
  
He used his staff to zoom in on the box, but could tell nothing from it. The dragon approached ValGaav and Dezinamor. ValGaav motioned to the dragon to open the box, and the dragon complied. Reaching inside, it pulled out a short scepter.  
  
Déjà vu struck him. He was certain he had seen a scepter like that before, but couldn't recall where. Struggling to remember, he took a step closer.  
  
A piece of stone no larger than a child's ball came loose and fell, bouncing with a loud crack and rolling down the side of the bowl, coming to rest at the feet of the dragon.  
  
The dragon's eyes fixed on him.  
  
"Oh dear," he said out loud.  
  
The dragon looked to ValGaav and Dezinamore in outrage. "YOU TRICKSES US!" A blast of energy shot from its eyes and knocked ValGaav into the side of the bowl.  
  
Dezinamor dived to one side as the dragon roared and began to transform again. The scepter fell to the ground with a clack. The Mazoku general, given two options, chose to see what threat had presented itself. Her eyes turned and found him in the shadows.  
  
Upon realization, she screamed a single word.  
  
"XELLOS!"  
  
"Looks like the party starts early," Xellos muttered to himself, raising his staff. Lances of dark energy shot from the tip and raked the ground where Dezinamor had stood a second before. A second after that, she materialized in the sky above him and fired a blast of energy downward. The mouth of the tunnel collapsed as Xellos reappeared in the air behind her. Wrapping his staff around her throat, he pulled her close and whispered to her.  
  
"Don't worry," he said in amusement. "Her Majesty wants you alive."  
  
This enraged the female Mazoku, and Xellos actually found himself knocked back by the intensity of the emotion. She aimed a hand at him, and for the first time in his life, Xellos was saved by a dragon.  
  
A blast of gold light struck Dezinamor in the side, throwing her higher into the air.  
  
"BETRAYED!" the dragon screamed in rage. Xellos arched an eyebrow. Deimos Dragons, though known for their strength, were also known for not being too bright.  
  
He saw ValGaav start toward the dragon. Seeing the scepter lying on the ground, the rogue Mazoku dove for it, but at that moment, the dragon had swung its massive body around and sent the six hundred pounds of muscle it liked to call its tail right into the rogue.  
  
ValGaav hit the side of the bowl again. He was about to blast the dragon when a bolt of black lightning struck the ground near his feet. Looking up, he saw Xellos diving down at him, firing blast after blast at him. ValGaav did a couple of quick backflips along the side of the bowl, then dematerlialized, reappearing above the general-priest.  
  
The Deimos Dragon fired at him, and ValGaav took a moment to shoot back. The dragon hopped to the right, then hopped to the left, then hopped forward..  
  
Right onto the scepter.  
  
"NO!" the Mazoku screamed as a crunch echoed throughout the eyrie. The dragon roared and lifted its foot. The scepter had been pulverized.  
  
So intent on the scepter, ValGaav didn't see the head of Xellos' staff whipping toward his face until it was too late. There was a flash of red as the tip made contact, and ValGaav was thrown back twenty feet. He screamed as he stood up again and started firing blindly.  
  
By this time, Dezinamor had reappeared beside ValGaav and was adding her own fire to the battle. Xellos disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the dragon, keeping the enraged beast between him and the rogues. ValGaav didn't care about this and continued firing, his beams of red energy actually shot through the dragon, riddling the creature with holes. The dragon screamed and opened its mouth.  
  
Dezinamor screamed as suddenly, white fire leapt from the serpent's mouth, engulfing them. The fire was the equivalent of a chaotic disintegrate spell popular with the Golden Dragons. As powerful as they were, Deimos Dragons were able to wield that kind of power without magic.  
  
Exhausted and mortally wounded, the dragon pitched forward and succumbed to its injuries, landing on the stone floor with a crash.  
  
Xellos arched an eyebrow and turned his gaze to the two figures burning in the white inferno before him. Dezinamor was still screaming as the holy fire consumed her until finally, she was motionless.  
  
"Got a smoke?" Xellos quipped with a grin.  
  
His grin fell a moment later as the second figure walked silently toward him through the flames. ValGaav emerged from the blaze unscathed, though the fire clung to him, gnawing him as uselessly as a dog gnawing on a stone.  
  
So surprised at this, Xellos actually took a step back. No Mazoku could've taken that kind of punishment and been casual about it. Even Her Majesty would have sworn a bit and likely would have removed herself from the area to heal, but there ValGaav stood, seemingly ready for more.  
  
"Xellos," he hissed. "Xellos...Xellos....XELLOS!"  
  
The general-priest raised his staff and readied a volley when suddenly, ValGaav stopped. He growled, his hands clenching into fists. At that second, Xellos realized he was listening to a send and quickly tried to tap into it.  
  
//...ase,// a deep voice finished.  
  
//BUT I CAN WIN!//  
  
//I said retreat,// the voice commanded. //You've failed enough this night.//  
  
ValGaav turned to him. "Hear this, Xellos," he cursed. "When next we meet, I WILL avenge Lord Gaav."  
  
Xellos smiled. "What makes you think I'll let you lea..."  
  
But ValGaav had already vanished.  
  
The general priest lowered his staff. "He who fights and runs away," he quoted and sighed.  
  
"Lives to die another day."  
  
***  
  
"She's pissed," the black and white housecat warned as Xellos walked through the halls of Castle Wolf Den, the home of Xelas Metallium.  
  
"Wouldn't be the first time," Xellos replied without his usual jaunty air. "Any word yet?"  
  
Callisto Metallium, Xelas' political advisor, fell into step with him. "None. It's just like before. It's as if he's vanished off the face of the astral plane."  
  
"He went SOMEWHERE," Xellos muttered. The ValGaav battle was really bugging him. He had expected Dezinamor to give him a rough time. After all, she was one of Gaav's top generals and had distinguished herself during the war, but last he checked ValGaav was a mere lieutenant and rumored to be a half-breed at that, someone who had bought their way into immortality by joining the Mazoku. There was no way he should've been able to survive that kind of treatment from the Deimos Dragon.  
  
The two strolled into the throne room and found Xelas Metallium, Queen of the Mazoku of WolfPack Island, lounging in her throne, smoking a cigarette through a pearl cigarette holder. One of the wolves that flanked her throne looked up at their approach and growled threateningly.  
  
"He smells failure," Xelas told them. Her eyes shot to Xellos. "Why is that, Xelly baby?"  
  
Xellos bowed low from the waist, and Callisto went to his forepaws. "I admit, Majesty, that I've come to your presence with better news in the past."  
  
"Such a gentle euphemism," Xelas remarked, taking a puff from her cigarette and blowing the smoke slowly out of her mouth. The smoke coalesced into the shape of a noose. Not an encouraging sign.  
  
"It is, nonetheless, true, Majesty," Xellos replied.  
  
"Dezinamor in the dungeon?" she asked.  
  
"No, Majesty."  
  
She blew another puff of smoke. The cloud shaped itself in the form of Xellos, and had it float very close to the smoke noose. "ValGaav dead?" she asked.  
  
"No, Majesty."  
  
Another puff of smoke, this time it was several wolves that pounced upon the smoke Xellos and tore him limb from limb. "I see," she whispered.  
  
"I have more bad news," he said.  
  
She blew another puff. The smoke became a new noose, larger, that rested around Xellos' neck. "Oh?" she asked sweetly. "Do tell."  
  
Xellos began to speak, telling the Mazoku matriarch every detail of his mission to the eyries. Xelas' eyes revealed nothing. She merely sat there and smoked as she listened.  
  
Finally, he was finished, and she digested what he had said. "Very well, Xellos, you're forgiven."  
  
The general-priest arched an eyebrow. "Am I?"  
  
Her eyes found his again. "You very rarely fail me, Xelly baby. The fact that you did tonight worries more than disappoints me." She stretched out on her throne and reached back, scratching one of her wolves, Fluffy, behind the ear. She looked to him again. "The scepter in that box, you said it was familiar."  
  
"Yes, Majesty."  
  
"What did it look like?"  
  
Xellos looked about for a pad of paper and a pen, but Xelas saved him the trouble. She took a drag from her cigarette and puffed a cloud of smoke at him. The trickster grinned and thanked her, then began to shape the smoke with his fingers until a smoky scepter was floating between them.  
  
"That it?" she asked.  
  
He nodded. "About that size too."  
  
The scepter was a little more than a foot long with a spherical top. Engravings along the staff seemed to creep up the sphere and stop. He still couldn't put his finger on where he had seen it.  
  
Xelas nodded to the cat on Xellos' right. "Callisto?"  
  
"Definitely a Sairaag design," the cat commented, hopping up on Xellos' shoulder to get a closer look. The cat's eyes narrowed as he peered at it. "But not one I've seen before."  
  
At the word "Sairaag" Xellos had it.  
  
"Miss Nels Lahda's scepter," he muttered.  
  
"Eh?" Xelas asked.  
  
"One of Lina Inverse's occasional companions," Xellos elaborated. "She carries a scepter like this one."  
  
"But not this scepter?" Xelas pressed.  
  
"Hard to tell," he told her as he gazed at the smoky image. "I never got a good look at hers. It was during the latter half of the recent unpleasantness with Hellmaster Phibrizzo," he explained. "I was out of the fight by then."  
  
"More gentle euphemisms," Xelas remarked.  
  
"Well, if it is a different scepter then it's probably the last of its kind," Callisto interjected. "Our reports tell us that Nels Lahda is the only survivor from the firestorm that consumed Sairaag."  
  
Xellos took a breath. "ValGaav wanted that scepter pretty bad," he said quietly. "Enough to strike a deal with a dragon to get it. He's also got some heavy backing now. Three months ago, Jinnar all but wiped the floor with him in Zephilia. Something happened between then and now that changed him. All of a sudden he's making deals with dragons, having secret meetings in eyries and is three times stronger than when we last fought him?"  
  
"He's taking orders from someone," Xelas added. "That bit about the mental send proves it."  
  
"It's got to be either Dynast or Deep Sea Dolphin," Callisto put in.  
  
"Maybe," Xellos said quietly. The smoke scepter floated in the air above him. "But we should also investigate another possibility."  
  
"Being?"  
  
Xellos reached out and swatted the scepter into nothingness. "There's a new piece on the board."  
  
***  
  
Xellos didn't see Xelas again for several hours. She spent the rest of the night locked up in her war room with Callisto. He wasn't worried. He knew Xelas would reveal whatever her plan was when she was good and ready.  
  
And apparently, she was good and ready right now.  
  
He bowed as the door shut behind him. Surprisingly enough, Xelas was alone, staring down at a table-top map of the world. Of Callisto there was no sign.  
  
The map was the most accurate one in the world, showing the locations of towns, cities, historical sites, battlefields, homes of "special considerations" and marked the location and exit of every Snucky's Diner known to man. Xelas had drawn it herself and considered it a labor of love.  
  
She stared down at this labor of love now, deep in thought, her tail swishing about behind her. When she spoke, she didn't look up at him.  
  
"I don't like it," she told him, deadly serious. "It stinks. It's sneaky, deceitful, hidden by shadows, lies and half-truths, and it's NOT something of my own doing. That bothers me, Xelly. It bothers me a lot." She looked up at him now. "I don't know why he wants that scepter, but he must not be allowed to get it."  
  
"What is your command, Majesty?" he asked her.  
  
She straightened up and walked around the table towards him. "We must proceed quietly," she told him in a whisper. "The world has changed. With Phibrizzo and Gaav dead, the Ryuuzoku will be looking for chances to pounce while we are still scattered, divided and leaderless. Find that scepter. Find out why ValGaav is so intent on getting it. If you can, find a use for us to exploit. If not, destroy it."  
  
"Why me, then?" he asked. "Wouldn't it be easier to simply take Miss Nels Lahda and torture the information out of her?"  
  
"And if she dies, then what?" Xelas asked bitterly. "If she takes her secret to the grave, we lose the advantage. Right now, that advantage is that ValGaav does not know how much we know. You'll go in under deep cover." She seemed to search for a way to word her next statement. "Approach...her," she said quietly. "And..entice..the information from her."  
  
Xellos arched an eyebrow. "Now which of us is speaking in euphemisms?"  
  
Xelas grinned at her protégé. "Come now, Xelly boy! Are you telling me that you're..incapable...of seducing a lone human girl?"  
  
"I've never liked that aspect of the job," he told her frankly. "Sex for humans is often an...optimistic..uplifting experience." He shuddered. "It bothers me to no end."  
  
"Get over it," Xelas advised darkly.  
  
"Yes, Majesty."  
  
She walked up to him until she was standing toe to toe with him. "This is MY world, Xellos. MINE. Not Gaav's. Not Phibrizzo's. Not ValGaav's. Not Cepheid's...Not Shabranigdo's." She gave him a moment to digest that. "Understand?"  
  
He nodded solemnly, all too aware of what Xelas had just done. It was the first time in the history of their race that a Mazoku had claimed dominion of the world over the Ruby Eye.  
  
"And no one destroys it but me," she declared.  
  
"Where is Nels Lahda now?" he asked.  
  
The storm cloud passed from her face and she stepped away. "Callisto is working on it. We hope to have her exact location in a day or so." At Xellos' arched eyebrow, she grinned. "Are you aware of just HOW difficult it is to find a virgin on this continent?"  
  
He smiled and started for the door. "In the meantime, I'm going to try another lead."  
  
"A lead? Where?"  
  
"Sairaag."  
  
Xelas blinked in puzzlement. "But there's no one in Sairaag."  
  
He paused at the door and turned back to her. "There's ALWAYS someone in Sairaag."  
  
***  
  
The pillar of light was new to the people on the continent, but they were unaware that it had reached out and touched the stars for months before Phibrizzo's death and the collapse of the Great Barrier. It was just that it was now visible for the very first time to them. It seemed to reached up into the sky forever, touching the face of the heavens and moving beyond.  
  
For ValGaav, the majesty, the beauty, had worn off eight seconds after he had seen it for the first time. Right now, all his focus was on the higher being sitting in the throne before him.  
  
"I could have killed him," he seethed. "I was winning!"  
  
"OUR DEAL DID NOT INVOLVE KILLING YOUR ENEMIES UNTIL AFTER THE DARK STAR WEAPONS WERE FOUND," Almayce's deep voice reverberated throughout the cavern. Despite the volume, the Shinzoku appeared perfectly calm and collected.  
  
ValGaav shook his head at the god's stupidity. "He's YOUR enemy too!" he growled. "Killing him would've done more than satisfy me! It would have neutralized the most dangerous Mazoku alive! Thrown WolfPack Island into confusion!"  
  
Almayce's eyes found him. "IT WAS TOO GREAT A RISK. WE HAVE ALREADY LOST DEZINAMOR. YOUR DEATH WOULD HAVE BEEN..UNFORTUNATE."  
  
"Glad you think so," the Mazoku sneered.  
  
"THERE ARE MORE IMPORTANT MATTERS TO CONTEND WITH NOW. THE STARSCEPTER IS LOST TO US."  
  
ValGaav folded his arms over his chest and smiled smugly. "I guess this means your great plan is over before it truly begins."  
  
Almayce rose to his feet, towering over the young demon. "IT IS NOT," he said simply.  
  
The demon turned in surprise. "How so?"  
  
"THE STARSCEPTER WAS SIMPLY THE EASIEST TO COME BY. THERE WERE OTHERS, IF MY INFORMATION IS CORRECT."  
  
ValGaav snorted. "Even if there were, they were made by Sairaans, and last I heard, they were all dead. Whatever other scepter you're thinking of, it's lying in ashes along with the ashes of every other person, place and thing in Sairaag."  
  
Almayce smiled, and ValGaav's eyes narrowed at it. The Shinzoku's smile was too damn smug for him.  
  
"YOU ARE FORGETTING THE NIGHTSCEPTER."  
  
***  
  
The young girl patted the sides of her newest tower and watched as a tiny trickle of sand foreshadowed trouble. Sure enough, it was followed by more, and soon her tower was nothing but a pile of sand lying before her.  
  
"Shucks," she swore and began piling the sand again. The girl, no more than ten by her appearance, gave no heed to the ashes and burned out husks of buildings surrounding her. Her sandbox was intact, and that's all she needed at the moment. Nearby, a swing set was black, burned and twisted into a frightening example of human brutality. It was humans that cast the spell that had destroyed this town. Humans who had thought it up.  
  
And it had been humans that paid the price for it.  
  
The girl swept back her violet hair and continued shaping her castle. She blinked as a shadow fell over her creation and turned. A man with short violet hair and carrying a staff stood there. He knelt next to her until he was eye level with the girl and smiled.  
  
"Hello there," he greeted her. "Is your mommy here?"  
  
The girl shook her head.  
  
"You're all alone?"  
  
A nod.  
  
"Hmmmm.." The man stood up and turned, his finger going to his lip in thought. He didn't see the girl reach into the sand and remove a large piece of burnt, rusted metal. "I suppose..."  
  
*WHAM!!*  
  
Xellos found himself on the ground, chewing on a large amount of sand. He quickly dematerialized and reappeared before the girl, who was brandishing a piece of metal three times her height without breaking a sweat.  
  
"Back off, Xellos!" the girl warned. "Phibrizzo's dead! Sairaag's OUR territory now!"  
  
Xellos growled and reached out, swatting the metal pole away. "Relax!" he replied, irate. "I didn't come to take it from you!"  
  
"Then why ARE you here?!" the girl asked.  
  
He shook his head at her. "Achi, why is it that you automatically assume that whatever I'm doing is necessarily against YOU or your mistress?"  
  
"Don't even play that game," she spat. "We know! We know it was Metallium that orchestrated that whole Phibrizzo-Gaav thing! And if she's thinking she can do the same with us, she's got another thing coming!"  
  
Xellos' hand went to his chest, and his face adopted an expression of shocked hurt. "Achi...How COULD you think I would do something like that?"  
  
"Because," she said quietly. "You're an asshole."  
  
"Guilty!" he replied with a grin.  
  
Achi growled. "So what DO you want?"  
  
He knelt in front of her again. "Just some information."  
  
"Try the Sairaag Tourism Department," she spat.  
  
"This is serious," he said quietly. "Our mistresses might not be on the best of terms or see eye to eye on most issues, but I can tell you with certainty that neither Her Majesty or Deep Sea Dolphin want to see ValGaav on the Ruby Eye's throne."  
  
She smiled at him. "Oh yes, that." The Mazoku girl giggled. "It gives Her Imperial Grace no small amusement to know that Xelas went through so much trouble to get Gaav, and yet can't capture the mosquito he left behind."  
  
"That mosquito has grown into a falcon," Xellos told her. "He's being backed by someone high on the food chain."  
  
"Not us!" Achi defended.  
  
"We don't think so either," he said, soothing her. "And it's not Dynast. He hates ValGaav even more than Her Majesty, if that's at all possible."  
  
"So who then?"  
  
"That's what I'm trying to find out. He's looking for a piece of Sairaag mysticism. Have you seen him or any dragons here in the last several weeks?"  
  
Achi shook her head. "No. Just them." She nodded to the east. Xellos turned and looked. He could see the smoke from cookfires a mile or so away. "Treasure hunters," she sniffed. "They come in, dig around the wreckage for a bit and leave. Some claim to be archaeologists, trying to preserve Sairaan history and culture, but they're all after the money. This set up got here a few weeks ago."  
  
"No ValGaav, though?"  
  
She shook her head. "No. Though they're better equipped than the others. They haven't strayed from that one spot in weeks. They're also packing sorcerers for security. Lead by some big-chested loud mouth."  
  
He nodded. "I don't suppose you might know where the last Sairaan is?"  
  
"Maaaaaaybe," she hinted.  
  
He turned to her, not having expected anything close to an affirmative. "Go on," he prompted.  
  
"Why should I tell you?"  
  
"Because it's in your best interest. How overjoyed do you think Dolphin will be when she finds out that her rival's top agent owes her top agent a favor?"  
  
Achi mulled it over for a moment. "I can't tell you where SHE is," she continued. "But I know where her companion came from."  
  
"Keep going," he urged.  
  
"She was here about a month ago, visiting the graves," Achi went on. "She had with her a companion of minor notice, but notice nonetheless..."  
  
"Lina Inverse?" he guessed.  
  
She shook her head and smiled. "The newly appointed Queen of Xoana."  
  
***  
  
Martina was bored.  
  
A year ago when she was bored, her cadre of dancing monkeys from the southern borders of Atlas would entertain her, however, with Xoana on the decline ever since her encounter with Lina Inverse, money normally earmarked for dancing monkeys went elsewhere...like clean water, building schools and all other manners of uselessness.  
  
So for now, Martina was bored with no end to the boredom in sight. Her husband, the new King of Xoana, was out training what remained of Xoana's grand army..all eighteen of them.  
  
She sighed and tapped her fingernails against the arm of her throne and tried to find some way out of the net of boredom she had become entangled in. What she needed was a plot. She was good at plots. Plots, plans, schemes and general mischief. That had been her forte when she was still a young woman, before she had married and settled down. Now she was twenty. TWENTY! Practically an old maid due to be chained to a rocking chair knitting mittens for kittens or drawers for dwarves or something.  
  
Well SCA-REW THAT!  
  
Martina stood up and stormed across the throne room. She'd find a plot. She'd MAKE plot!  
  
Pause.  
  
The last time she had plotted, her kingdom had been reduced to a pile of loose stone and ashes. That wouldn't do at all.  
  
Okay, scale back.  
  
She frowned. None of her schemes didn't involve the slow death of her rivals or the domination of other lands. Where was the simplicity?!  
  
Dammit.  
  
Well...Maybe Sylphiel would have an idea.  
  
***  
  
"This plan is stupid, Almayce!" ValGaav hissed. "It'll never work! We're wasting our time! Let's just grab the girl and beat it out of her!"  
  
Almayce's eyes narrowed at him from atop the throne. He had gone through a lot of work to find the location of the last Sairaan, even risked exposing himself to this world's gods. And he had done it all to AVOID needless killing. Not for the first time, Almayce found himself questioning his own judgement when it came to trusting ValGaav. The demon was a loose cannon on deck. If Sirius were here, he might have just considered approaching the last Sairaan openly, but he couldn't. Not yet. Not now. Already the denizens of this continent were looking to the pillar of light and asking questions.  
  
They would have to move soon.  
  
"I'VE TOLD YOU BEFORE," Almayce boomed, "WE WILL NOT TAKE LIFE WHERE IT IS NOT NECESSARY."  
  
"Your foolish ideal is going to compromise your mission," ValGaav taunted.  
  
"MY IDEALS KEEP ME FROM BECOMING LIKE YOU."  
  
The Mazoku growled.  
  
"VALGAAV, IT SHOULDN'T TAKE LONG." He smiled. "YOU MIGHT EVEN FIND THE EXPERIENCE...PLEASURABLE."  
  
ValGaav grunted derisively. "Then you do it."  
  
"I UNDERSTAND THAT AS A MAZOKU, YOU DON'T KNOW MUCH WHEN IT COMES TO RO..."  
  
"Maybe I do and maybe I don't," ValGaav snapped, to the Shinzoku's surprise. "That doesn't mean I have to like it." The Mazoku sighed. "How do I get in? Or do you intend to have me just drop in and say 'hi?'"  
  
Almayce picked something up from the arm of his throne and tossed it at the Mazoku's feet. It hit the ground with a clang and brushed against ValGaav's foot. The demon looked down at it, then up at the Shinzoku.  
  
"This is a joke, right?"  
  
***  
  
Sylphiel Nels Lahda sighed quietly as she tried to sculpt her next attack perfectly. This wasn't going to be easy. She'd rather be facing Phibrizzo again than this angry stormcloud, but it had to be done. A little boy's life was at stake.  
  
"Mr. Augustine," she began again, folding her hands on the desk in front of her. "I can't stress to you how vitally important this is. Masao NEEDS extra help in math. He's falling behind the other children."  
  
"You saying my boy's stupid?" was the immediate response. Augustine was a large, bearded man with just enough gray in his hair to accentuate his age without making him LOOK old. His skin was tan and roughed with years working under the open sun. His eyes, sharpened by years of squinting through the sunlight, were trying to pierce the young teacher like a Flare Arrow.  
  
"Not at all," Sylphiel replied, reigning in her temper and frustration. "Sometimes with young children, particularly with math, it just takes a little more time. He can learn it, but he needs some extra time with it."  
  
"Young miss," Augustine began, "My boy goes to your school six hours a day as it is. The rest of that day he needs to be in that field helping put food on the table."  
  
Sylphiel was silent.  
  
Augustine grunted and stood up to leave.  
  
"He can be better than you," Sylphiel told him quietly.  
  
The farmer stopped dead still and turned back to her. "Pardon?"  
  
Sylphiel looked up him, this time it was her jade eyes piercing him. "I said, he can be better than you are. He's already ahead of the other students in reading and science." She stood up and planted her hands on the desk in front of her, leaning towards him. "He could grow up to be an engineer or a sorcerer or a healer. This is the only problem area he has, but it's going to cripple him if he doesn't get the extra tutoring."  
  
"Now you listen to me, little missy.."  
  
"No, YOU listen!" Sylphiel ordered. "If you want your son to work the same field day in and day out for the next forty years, then that's fine. But I want you to look into his eyes every day and know that he can be more and that you took that away from him because you didn't want him to spend an extra hour at school twice a week for FREE!"  
  
Augustine stared at her silently, then stood up and started for the door. Sylphiel flopped back down in her chair and looked at the desktop.  
  
"Tuesday and Friday," Augustine said suddenly from the door. "That's all I can spare him."  
  
She smiled. "Thank you. That would be fine."  
  
The farmer stepped out the door, and Sylphiel Nels Lahda, former priestess and now school marm, took a breath.  
  
"Wow, you really flattened him," she heard from the door.  
  
Martina stood there, hands over her chest.  
  
"Oh, Martina," Sylphiel said with a blink. "I didn't see you come in."  
  
"Are you done for the day yet?" the Queen asked. "I'm bored. Let's go get into some trouble."  
  
"Uh..Mar.."  
  
The Queen grabbed her hand and physically dragged her out the door. "Come on! You spend all day in this worthless little school! You need some good old fashioned fun!"  
  
Sylphiel sighed. Being queen had forced Martina to curb most of her excesses, but she could still be horribly thoughtless. Sylphiel was proud of her school, and in the beginning, Martina had seen it as the flagship of the new Xoana. A place where the children of her kingdom would all learn to be doctors or lawyers and bring glory to Xoana..and cash.  
  
However, Martina wasn't a patient woman, even as a queen, and when it became apparent that success wouldn't be overnight, her enthusiasm had cooled. Even so, Sylphiel and the Queen got along well. Mostly because Martina liked having someone she could boss around who was too polite to say anything about it. And Sylphiel liked having a girlfriend, even if she was pushy and arrogant.  
  
"What about Mr. Zangulus?" Sylphiel asked, looking for an out.  
  
"He's busy! Come on!"  
  
With that, the former shrine maiden was dragged out the door.  
  
***  
  
The new Xoana was certainly different from the last Xoana. Rather than rebuild in the center of the crater left behind by Lina Inverse's Dragon Slave, the entire city simply picked up and moved several miles down the road. While many of the buildings appeared the same, the geography had changed. One of the changes was the Araka River that ran through the center of the city. The people had set their buildings on either side of it and quickly built a bridge across it.  
  
It was this bridge that Xellos was now walking across. He was more wary here than if he were in Atlas or even Seyruun. The truth of the matter was, all it took was one green-haired woman to dime him out, and the entire operation would have to be scrapped. He had never met Sylphiel Nels Lahda face to face from less than a hundred meters, but he had had more than enough encounters with Martina Xoana to make her, not ValGaav, the preeminent threat here.  
  
As he was mulling this over, a carriage drawn by four black horses pulled up next to him. Without a second though, Xellos disappeared and reappeared within. Sitting in the seat opposite of him, was Xelas Metallium's housecat advisor.  
  
The carriage began to move again.  
  
"She runs a school," Callisto told him straight away, getting down to business. "Nothing fancy really. No student older than twelve, but she has the support and the friendship of the current Queen. An old friend of yours." Callisto smiled, his feline eye arching slightly in bemusement.  
  
"Something like that," Xellos told him cooly.  
  
"Her Majesty wants this done fast," the cat continued. "She approves of your suggested approach, but cautions you not to be timid in this regard."  
  
Xellos smiled wolfishly. "Since when have I ever been timid?"  
  
"Her words, not mine." The cat sat back on his hind legs. "We'll be outside the school in a few moments. All right, reality check."  
  
Xellos began without missing a beat, simultaneously shrinking his staff until the whole thing fit in the palm of his hand and concealed it in his coat. At the same time, his hair shrunk and darkened slightly. He pulled a pair of spectacles out of a pocket in the astral plane and put them on.  
  
As he removed his black robe, he spoke.  
  
"Good afternoon, Miss Nels Lahda. My name is Bond.....James Bond....."  
  
"Just a sec," Callisto interrupted.  
  
"What?"  
  
The cat looked at him seriously. "What kind of stupid name is that?"  
  
***  
  
The man who exited the carriage looked nothing like the Dark One of dragon legends. He wore a loose-fitting black coat that looked worn with age and a wide-brimmed hat. The brown knapsack he carried over his shoulder was woefully full of books donated from Her Majesty's library in order to lend credence to his cover.  
  
Shouldering this pack, Xellos walked up the steps of the squat brick building before him and entered without knocking.  
  
For all his careful preparation, he was met with an empty room.  
  
***  
  
"Okay, so it's narrowed down!" Martina announced proudly. "We either......" She turned and extended a map pointer at a chart on her left filled with graphics of giant blue triangles moving toward a large yellow circle. Below this image were stick figures of people crying. "Destroy the sun!," she finished. "Or......" She turned the pointer to the chart on her right filled with numbers and mathematical symbols. "Raise taxes!"  
  
Sitting on the throne room steps that led to the two gilded chairs, Sylphiel sipped a cup of tea. "Perhaps," she began timidly, "Perhaps we should try a different approach."  
  
Martina blinked. "What? What's wrong with it?" She balled her hand into a fist and shook it at the sun shining brightly out the throne room window. "Since the beginning of time, man has YEARNED to destroy the sun!"  
  
"And I'm not arguing against that," Sylphiel replied. "But what does destroying the sun do for YOU?"  
  
Martina's face fell. "Not much, I guess."  
  
"Exactly!" Sylphiel jumped on the chance. "So why not turn it around and find ways to make the sun work for YOU?"  
  
"I'm listening....."  
  
"Well," Sylphiel began, putting her tea cup down, "My students are working on a machine for their science class that actually harnesses the sun's power and uses it to do things like heat homes."  
  
Martina put the pointer down and looked at Sylphiel as one who is about to try to explain the electoral college to a three year old. "Sylphiel.....Sweet, kind, naive Sylphiel......You can't PLOT to heat homes......You CAN plot to destroy the sun." She emphasized this last point by pointing at the diagram again.  
  
Sylphiel thought quickly. "But.....If you did it so that your people would love you more than they already do......It's KIND of like plotting."  
  
The Queen looked at her. "Sylphiel," she sighed, searching for words. "Goddammit," she finally finished.  
  
The teacher was saved by the door opening and Zangulus Xoana, newly appointed "Kinda-King" walked in.  
  
"ZANGULUS!" Martina cried, dropping the pointer. "DARLING!" She raced up to the swordsman and threw her arms around him.  
  
Sylphiel watched the display with a worn smile and stood up, offering Zangulus a curtsy. Sylphiel was nothing if not proper. "How was your day, Lord Zangulus?"  
  
"Not bad," the man replied, readjusting his hat after Martina's glomp attack. "We're getting there. It's only a matter of time before I'd put those troops up against any Boy Scout troop on the continent!"  
  
Sylphiel sweatdropped. "I see."  
  
Before the reunion could go further, a well-dressed chamberlain appeared at the door and bowed low. "Your Majesties, pardon the interruption, but there is a man here to see you."  
  
"A man?" Martina asked, looking for more detail.  
  
The chamberlain looked over his shoulder, as if checking to see if the man was right there before turning back to them. "An odd-looking fellow, Your Majesty. A foreigner by the looks of him. And he carries a sword."  
  
At this, Zangulus arched an eyebrow. "Really? Well, show him in!"  
  
The chamberlain looked just a bit disappointed in the Kinda King's decision and bowed again, disappearing through the door to return a moment later. The man stepped out from behind the chamberlain and entered the throne room.  
  
Sylphiel's eyes followed the man as he made his way to them. His green hair was short, but wild. His eyes had a wild, predatory look to them, and the frown on his face was anything but pleasant. There was something else to him, however. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on..  
  
The man put his hands on his hips in a look of boredom. "My name is Val Okage," he announced. "And I'm here to fight the greatest swordsman in the world."  
  
Author's Notes: Nightscepter is a fic I started on several months ago when the release of the movie, "Die Another Day" prompted some serious thinking about the role Xellos plays in the Mazoku. From watching Next and Try, you see him do anything from intelligence gathering to disinformation to manipulation and regime-toppling. He's a catch-all, someone you use when more orthodox means won't fit the bill. He is the James Bond of evil. I wanted to write a fic that would let him play that role to the very hilt.  
  
At the same time, I had a promise to keep to Entry Plug by writing a ValGaav fic. I didn't want to write a fic that dealt with him during Try or after he's reborn as Filia's son. I wanted the evil ValGaav in all his glory. So I asked the question, "what was Xellos doing between Next and Try?" In the last few minutes of Next, Xellos tells Lina that he's been busy tying up loose ends. It's easy to forget, with the way Next ended, that there could be loose ends.  
  
But one forgets that Gaav had an army... 


End file.
